A road trip to Wisconsin

I took off Friday and Makai and I went on a road trip to Wisconsin. img_1853.jpg

Our first stop was in the Bayview neighborhood of Milwaukee where we met up with Amanda for breakfast at HoneyPie.img_1868.jpgimg_1869.jpgBayview seemed like a young, trendy part of Milwaukee with a lot of cool bars, restaurants and shops. img_1855.jpg Amanda and I both had the pork belly benedict. Makai had eggs and toast with their house-made jam. He liked it. Can you tell?img_1858.jpgimg_1861.jpgimg_1973.jpgIn the bathroom they had a ton of intricate needlepoints that I’m sure were thrifted. img_1866.jpgimg_1865.jpgMom was at work when we arrived in Greenville. I was kind of tired from driving so I laid down for a while and dad and Makai made a snowman with the little snow that was on the ground. This was Makai’s first snowman. When I asked him the snowman’s name he said “FROSTY!”img_1874.jpgMy dad made beef stew and we brought it over to my Aunt Ali’s house. We visited for a long time with her, my cousin Skyonna, and one of Ali’s friends. Makai brought his A game and was singing and dancing and tumbling and showing off, in general. img_1899.jpgimg_1898.jpgMakai loved playing with Katrina, Ciara, and Skyonna’s old toys and especially loved playing with Tucker and Ahmi, Aunt Ali’s dogs as well. At the end we got to say hi to Uncle Dave just for a few minutes when he arrived home from work.img_1877.jpgimg_1878.jpgWhile we visited we didn’t realize that it was a blizzard outside. For hours! I drove all the way home going only 25 mph because I couldn’t even see where the roads were!img_1963.jpgMakai liked watching dad use the snowblower the next morning. And Frosty looked like he gained some weight!img_1901.jpg

The whole reason we came up for the visit was to see Daniel Tiger Live. It showed in Madison, Milwaukee, and Appleton, but not Chicago! Makai was so excited to see the “concert” even though he had no idea what it was. He was talking about it nonstop at school before we left. We told him he would be seeing the REAL Daniel Tiger, not the cartoon!img_1903.jpgI had never been to the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center (PAC) before. It was really good. The lobby areas were bright and sunny. The theater was comfortable and nice. Big but not huge.img_1910.jpg img_1914.jpgThere were a number of activities for the kids to participate in before the show. We took our photos by Daniel and the trolley, there were coloring and sticker activities where you could make a crown, and there was dancing and singing to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood songs.img_1919.jpgI wasn’t sure about the balcony seats we got. I wasn’t sure if they would be too far from the stage and therefor not engaging for a 2-year-old. He was way into it, though. Sitting on the edge of his seat and singing along to the songs he knew!img_1940.jpgFunny thing, when we got to our seats I heard someone say my name and it was an old friend I haven’t seen for probably 15 years or more. Married and with a kid!

This is what the show looked like. This is not my photo, just one I found online: img_1974.jpg After the show we met up with Aunt Connie, Kelly and Katie for lunch at Red Robin in Darboy. Aunt Connie asked Makai, “do you like cookies? What is your favorite kind?” Makai said “Chocolate!” and she said “You’re in luck! I made chocolate chocolate chip cookies this morning!” So we went over to visit with her and Aunt Sue for several hours!img_1954.jpgBy the afternoon the snow was melting. Here’s a frosty update.img_2151.jpgAnd on the day we left:img_1985.jpg

First Annual Cookie and Tree Trimming Party


Erin & Hixx (photo by Erin)

Erin’s Peanut Butter Kisses
Erin’s Peanut Butter Kisses

Rachelle’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels
Rachelle’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels

On Saturday I hosted a cookie party. My mom, sister-in-law, cousin, nieces, Dallas’ aunts, and some of my girlfriends all came over. Each brought several dozen cookies, which we laid out and sampled over the course of a few hours.


Hixx, Laura, Olivia (Photo by Erin)


Olivia, Stephanie (Photo by Erin)

Stephanie & Jessica
Stephanie & Jessica

I served some baba ganoush (Dallas and I love the Whole Foods brand of it and surprisingly, so did my niece Stephanie who’d never had baba ganoush before), sun-dried tomato hummus, veggies, crackers, pretzels and cheeses to try to counter-balance the sweets. We all, especially my niece Jess, enjoyed spiced cider (spiked or not) that my mom helped make from a Chicagoist recipe.

Mary’s Bacon ~n~ Eggs
Mary’s Bacon ~n~ Eggs


Hixx (Photo by Erin)


Frosty! (Photo by Erin)

We passed the time talking and eating and listening to holiday music and trimming the tree and watching Frosty the Snowman/Frosty Returns on TV. After a couple hours of sampling all the cookies and candies, we each voted on the one we liked best.


Margaret (Photo by Erin)

Margaret’s Cookies
Margaret’s Cookies

These are all the tasty treats we sampled:

  • Rachelle’s Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels (pictured above)
  • Rachelle’s Seven Layer Bars
  • Rachelle’s Lemon Spritz Cookies
  • Hixx‘s Cookie Bars
  • Mary’s White Cranberries
  • Mary’s Christmas Rings
  • Mary’s Bacon ~n~ Eggs (pictured above)
  • Mary’s Special K Bars
  • Erin‘s Peanut Butter Kisses (pictured above)
  • Naoko’s Half-Dipped Cookies
  • Naoko’s Japanese Cookies
  • Laura H.’s Peanut Butter Blossoms
  • Gail’s Oatmeal Cookies
  • Kelly’s Almond Spritz
  • Kelly’s Jelly Rolls
  • Kelly’s Peanut Butters
  • Olivia‘s Jammy Pecan Thumbprints
  • Olivia‘s Coco-Nutella Nuggets
  • Laura O.‘s Cranberry Bars with Struesel Topping
  • Amanda’s Peanut Butter Balls
  • Amanda, Stephanie, & Jessica’s Frosted Cut Out Cookies
  • Margaret‘s Oatmeal-Chocolate-Dried Cherry-Pecan Awesomes (pictured above)


Rachelle (Photo by Erin)

Cookie Votes
Cookie Votes

Tied for second place were Kelly’s Jelly Rolls, Olivia’s Jammy Pecan Thumbprints and Mary’s White Chocolate Cranberries. Laura O. won the top prize (a holiday spatula and Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book) with her Cranberry Bars with Struesel Topping.


Laura (Photo by Erin)


Hixx, Laura, Olivia, Kelly (Photo by Erin)

Laura, the winner
Laura, the winner!

I didn’t take too many photos, and the ones I did weren’t of the people at the party.. I need to get better at that sometimes.. but Erin has some photos of friends who attended.

Cookies
Cookies!

Cookies
More Cookies!

Between this party and my company holiday party, I’m getting into the spirit now. I think my cookie party was a success. Everyone said they had a great time, so I’ll probably try to do it again next year, with a few modifications. Namely, you MUST take home as many cookies as you bring. I have about 500 cookies in my kitchen right now because everyone was being all polite about not taking too much home. Also, I think each person should just make one thing. There were several of us who made more than one candy or cookie and it did turn out to be a bit overwhelming to try to sample everything.

Christmas Tree
Christmas Tree 2007

Note: In 2010 I finally got around to updating this post with some of Erin’s photos from the party. She had more photos of the people who attended.